Thomas Leong

Kaarle, I think you are on the right path. To calculate the checksum - 1. Print out this reference chart from: http://ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm It gives you the full ASCII - Hex up to at least ASCII 255 2. Using the table, convert all hex to their Decimal values and add up from the Device Address through to all the Command codes. In your example above, it would be 00 + 20 + 90 + 00 in Hex, 0 + 32 + 144 + 0 in Decimal, which = 176 in Decimal. 3. Since modulo is essentially the 'Remainder' value, and Barco uses modulo 100 (hex) or modulo 256 (decimal), the value 176 is less than 256, so 176 is the Remainder = Checksum. (There are no negatives in the case of Checksum for the Barco). Converting 176 to Hex using the table = B0 For any other resultant value > 256, subtracting 256 from such value gives you the Remainder in Decimal, which you then convert back to Hex with the table to obtain your checksum. Hope that's clear! Thomas

I had the opportunity to work on the Barco HDX-W18 replacing Christie LX-1500's used for a 360-degree water-screen show last year, but via RS-232. However, we did not use PiP commands, only power, shutter, and projector response to their status, lamp hours queries, etc. I would try the following - 1. Via the Projector's Menu, first discover and note down the IP Address of each projector and set the DEVICE address of ALL projectors to 0 (Pg. 11-12 of Command Catalog) 2. In Watchout > Output Window > create 4 String Outputs > use the IP addresses so discovered, and Port 43680 which is the TCP port the Barco listens to for incoming commands (Note If TCP has a simultaneous send problem to all 4 projectors through the same port, try UDP) 3. In Watchout, drag each String Output to the timeline. Line them up over 4 layers so that the data is sent simultaneously. If this does not work, try staggering them by 0.05 - 0.1 time differences. Else try UDP. 4. The data string to send is in hex, as follows - 0xfe 0x00 0x8f 0x88 0x01 0x31 0x01 0x4a 0xff where 0xfe is the Barco start byte as specified by Barco 0x00 is the Device Address 0x8f 0x88 0x01 are the 'Select PIP Window as Prefix, Write' commands (Pg. 104 of Command Catalog) 0x31 is the 'Set Source' command (Pg. 105) 0x01 is the 'Input 1 as Source' command (Pg. 105); 0x02 = Input 2; 0x03 = Input 3; 0x04 = Input 4 0x4a is the Checksum for Input 1; 0x4b = Checksum for Input 2; 0x4c = Checksum for Input 3; 0x4d = Checksum for Input 4 (My hex maths is not good, so I worked in decimal. I manually converted hex to decimal base 10, added the figures, subtracted 256 from the sum, and converted the remainder back to hex to obtain 4a. 256 is the decimal of hex 100). 0xff is the End byte per Barco Note: 1. You may have to change all '0x' above to '$' AND leave out all spaces in Watchout's 'Data to send' window, i.e. 0xfe 0x00 0x8f 0x88 0x01 0x31 0x01 0x4a 0xff becomes $fe$00$8f$88$01$31$01$4a$ff 2. You may also have to append 0x0D or $0D to the end of the above string. Try with / without. (That is the number 0, not the letter O), ie $fe$00$8f$88$01$31$01$4a$ff$0d For size and position of the PIP, easier if you fix these via the Barco on-board Menu. If through Watchout, it could be a combination of Commands 3.203 (pg 105-106) with 3.236 (pg 116). Hope that works! I don't have that ultra expensive projector to test the codes. Thomas Leong

Here's an article that may answer your question - http://www.techspot.com/article/927-temperature-impact-cpu-performance/

If I recall correctly, the "Note: No command can be sent or received for 60 secs when the projector lamps have just started." is from the Panasonic manual, therefore a projector manufacturer limitation, not a Watchout limitation. Re unable to "send/receive within 60 seconds of the previous command being executed", I would not have a clue as I don't have Panny. Perhaps someone else who has one can enlighten here. Thomas Leong

I have not tried this transcoder yet, but you may want to check it out - FootageStudio from Acrovid. Not that expensive. Not sure, but perhaps it has ProRes installed. http://www.redsharknews.com/production/item/1910-footage-studio-makes-processing-video-simple Thomas Leong

With reference to Mike's suggestion, MIDI buttons from audiovisualdevices.au is a nice, easy to use interface, on a laptop or touchscreen laptop. Freeware available from - http://www.da-share.com/software/midi-buttons/ Just install MIDIYoke on the the laptop and on the Watchout PCs to enable MIDI Channel 1 on them, and Bob's your uncle! Thomas Leong

Er...does not need Win 8.1. I'm using Win 7 and have a Plextor M.2 x2 M6e PCIe 128GB SSD on an AS Rock Z97 Extreme 6 motherboard which has 2 slots for M.2 (one at x4). The Plextor works in either slot under AHCI. Installed as a data drive, not as boot, but BIOS sees it, so boot should not be a problem. Thomas Leong

"...Reportedly based on the same GPU as AMD FirePro W600." ?? Not so attractive then. Sounds more like a re-packaging by another company. But the products look attractive! The framelock seem to be board-to-board, so won't benefit Watchout users....unless WO6 allows multiple gfx cards in one pc...hint...hint... Thomas Leong

This is interesting news - http://www.tomshardware.com/news/matrox-c680-c420-lp,27655.html Who is going to be the adventurous one from this forum? Thomas Leong

Here's my 2-cents - Full redundancy would mean having 2 sets of Prodn and Displays as Jonas has pointed out. Control of both Prodn machines can be from a 3rd WO Prodn machine (eg. an Atom-based laptop since it need not run visuals on the Stage, or rather, since there is no Stage media, only output cues or Aux timelines without visual media). I would envisage the same Ethernet hub (or a backup - one set to each hub), and the same subnet mask. Depending on the depth of redundancy one wants/needs, a Matrix Switcher (eg. Kramer VP88, or a seamless Matrix Switcher) would take all outputs from the two sets of Display machines to feed one set of projectors. If there are 2 sets of projectors, then these would have to be stacked, and on a controllable dowser or shutter on/off command (from an Aux Timeline). Additionally, the projectors' source input switching commands can be in the same Aux Timeline as the dowser/shutter on/off commands such that they all switch at the same time. A Matrix Switcher with a 'Take' feature is desirable as a manual backup. Thomas Leong

I'll leave the 6-output gfx card and 3g HDSDI input cards to others, and mention here that the M.2 SSDs are the way to go instead of SATA3 SSDs. The read/write performance of M.2 SSDs overcomes the limits of SATA3 controllers, though being new, price is obviously higher per GB. But for a 'beast', that's the route I would take. I just bought a Plextor M.2 PCIe Gen2 x2 128GB and installed it into my ASRock Z97 Extreme6 motherboard, and its Sequential Read speed is over 700Mb/s versus a SATA3 SSD's top 550Mb/s. The top end Samsung XP941, an M.2 x4 SSD supposedly has a sequential read speed of over 1,100Mb/s. To RAID it, you would need a motherboard that has two M.2 x4 slots. Haven't found one yet, so presently one would need to put one piece in a M.2 x4 slot (mainly ASRock motherboards), the other on a PCIe x4 adapter. (Be aware that with Z97/LGA 1150 motherboards, occupying another PCIe 3.0 slot with a x4 card may well drop your main graphics card's lanes to x8 from x16 since the cpu has only 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes. A X99/LGA 2011-3 or X79/LGA 2011's cpu has 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes, with the exception of the Haswell-E 5820 which has 28 PCIe 3.0 lanes, and therefore have ample PCIe 3.0 lanes for other add-on cards without affecting your main gfx card). The Samsung XP941 is not cheap, and is only found in the Mac Pro Tower and the Sony VAIO Pro 13. However, ramcity.com.au seems to carry it, as does flexxmemory.co.uk Thomas Leong

I doubt AutoHotKey would work with Watchout since it does not force a PC keyboard to output MIDI Notes. What is needed is QwertyKeyboardMidi (http://qkmidi.sourceforge.net) which converts a PC keyboard to output MIDI (most of the PC keys anyway (see the keyboard layout pointed to by the link above) plus a virtual MIDI port creator such as Midi Yoke from http://www.midiox.com/ (Note: Watchout will only work with "Out to Midi Yoke 1"; i.e. port 1). Be Aware: QwertyKeyboardMidi must be active for the PC keyboard to output MIDI Notes, but this means the PC keyboard is disabled for normal key operations. One has to 'disable' QwertyKeyboardMidi to re-enable normal pc keyboard operations. It would be more productive to get a small inexpensive MIDI keyboard controller like the USB Korg Nano to use as MIDI triggers. Thomas Leong

Thanks for the tip, Mike. Works as you said. My problem was using Serialbuttons from audiovisualdevices.com.au. Just read its very brief 'help' file, and it says "ASCII cannot contain spaces" when using serialbuttons. My bad. My other problem is that in order to provide the ability to address more Aux Timelines with a small set of serial buttons, I had one button with the 'run Timeline' command, and a set of numeric keys from 0-9, plus a final 'Take' button (containing the hex .13 or 0x0D final code) to end the command string. When keyed one after another, I could trigger any number of Aux Timelines with this small set of buttons. Example, I could key the 'run Timeline' button, then the numerics 5 and 3 buttons, then the 'Take' button, and Aux Timeline53 would play. Thomas Leong

One gotcha I faced: The Aux Timelines cannot have spaces in their names as in the auto assigned names. Example: Timeline 1 has to be renamed to Timeline1, Timeline 2 renamed to Timeline2, etc... in order for the serial command to work. Thomas Leong

It is possible (from the manual: Production Computer Protocol; page 253 old manual) - run [<string>] Run timeline from current position, optional aux timeline name. halt [<string>] Stop at the current position, with optional auxiliary timeline name You must name the Aux Timeline name after the command 'run' or 'halt'. You must also test. Syntax matters with serial commands. And you will need a serial-to-TCP/IP converter installed in your Production PC since Watchout only listens to TCP/IP. I use either the freeware Virtual Serial Port Emulator (VSPE) from eterlogic.com or HW Virtual Serial Port from HW Group. Thomas Leong

Good idea, Neil!! As an addition, if the next cue is a show in another Aux Timeline, as the loop fades out, put a Play Aux Cue in to auto trigger the show for a seamless transition from loop to showtime, followed by the Stop Loop Cue. Thomas Leong

If you have had a Display PC linked up and transferred the show to it before the crash, this might help rebuild the show file - http://forum.dataton.com/topic/717-rebuild-show-file/?p=2611 Otherwise, doubt if you can recover unless someone else knows and can chip in here. Thomas Leong

Thank you for the suggestion Christian. Apologies for the long delay but have not had much time to give it further thoughts until recently....and came up with another alternative request. Instead of a mask creation feature per se, perhaps adding an ability for a user to add points to the Corner Tween feature and making any point so added linear or smooth (bezier) will allow us to import and use a black image and tweak such image to suit. The weakness of such an "enhanced" Corner Tween is that Display PC would need to be updated to view the effect of the tween versus a mask creation feature which, like the Geometric Correction feature, is live when online. "Corner" tween will probably need re-naming to suit such new capabilities. How about "Distort" tween? Thomas Leong

Lalindra, Check also that you have disabled (dis-connect is not good enough) any other network connections on the motherboard (FIrewire, 2nd Ethernet port, wireless, if any). Thomas

I had almost similar problems with a 3-screen blended setup a month ago, running fibre extenders to 3 Panasonic 20K projectors. No such problems in the office running 1-2m DVI cables and Active miniDP-DVI adapters. Solved by adding a Gefen DVI Detective to each output. Stable thereafter, and no more sudden loss of signal. Also check within Windows that all outputs and projectors are the same resolutions. In my case, although all were Panasonic 20K projectors (identical model/looks outside) one was 1920x1080 and the other 2 were 1920x1200. Had to reconfigure them down to the same for all 3. Thomas Leong

Mask creation for mapping/geometric corrections. Recently, I had the task of using the geometric correction for 3 blended displays since the projection was over a 100'x26' lycra screen stretched at various points such that there were segments where the projected images would be on the venue's wall if not geometrically corrected. Problem with the Geometric Correction of Watchout is that when a point on the grid is adjusted, adjacent points are also affected. I had to first lock down the points I did not want to be affected (as these areas were where the crucial content info would be), before I started re-shaping the displays. I think a mask creation feature would have made the task far easier. Thomas Leong

Don't have the MST DP Hub myself, though I do have an ASUS HD7970 Matrix Platinum. According to the limited FAQ at the ASUS website - http://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/114045/ ...you can use 1 MST Hub + 3 other outputs for 6 displays, or 2 MST Hubs for 6 displays. And as jfk has said, the DVI-D output port requires a converter if you are using VGA as the final output. A client of mine once used his AnalogWay switcher and that worked. Not sure why you are getting 640x480 on all your outputs, but I did get the same (640x480) on one of my DP outputs today after installing new DP-VGA Active Adaptors on two of the DP ports (the first 2 from the top down, then tried DP1 and DP3, then back to DP 1 & 2). Most times was after a shutdown & boot. Eventually, the port (DP#2) that showed 640x480 allowed me to change the resolution, rather than being greyed out. Since then, the resolution I set has been fine (1280x1024) for both monitors, but there is a blink (short black out of about 1 sec duration) now and then. Thomas Leong

Update: Ken Cheung has answered Q3, 4 & 5. Thomas Leong

Have a client enquiring - 1. Expected availability date? 2. Capacity of SSD and amount of RAM? 3. Are ACTIVE mini DP-DVI Adapters required (as stated for Watchpax I; I can't find detail blurb for Watchpax II) 4. If service is required after expiry of warranty period, can it be repaired or does client have to buy a new one? 5. Is there an option for upgrading when, say, Watchpax III is launched (if ever)? Thanks, Thomas Leong

Oops forgot to metion in the Display PC specs - Graphics card was the 3GB 6-output ASUS HD7970 Matrix Platinum